War Drums
by Portrait
Summary: The last day that Jane and Alec have as humans. One-shot.


_1472 - Montepulciano, ____Italy_

"Alec," I whisper, stepping closer to my brother. "I'm scared." He wraps his arms around my waist, and tells me to lean my face into his shoulder. He rubs my back, trying to comfort me.

He stops, and his hands fold together. "It will all be okay, little sister," he says soothingly. "I promise it will be."

I wish to believe him, but we're hiding in an alley. Our parents have had yet to find out about Alec and I being witches. As absurd as it sounds, the town believes it. I am believed to me a witch because, on occasion, I am able to make others feel acute amounts of pain. My twin Alec is believed to be a witch because, just as me, he can make others partially lose their senses.

Alec tugs his hands through my long, light brown hair. "We're going to need to cut this," he informs me softly.

Tugging away from him, I glare, "Why? Why do I need to cut my hair?"

Alec sighs, and gently pulls me back into his arms. "Would you like to run around with a rat nest in your hair? Why, dear sister, you could wake up one morning and truly find rats in your hair."

I know that he is right, but I do not wish to admit it. I love my hair. It's long, and makes be look beautiful. If I were to cut my hair, I would never be accepted into society. Woman can't have short hair, not in this country.

"Just a little, so it will be easier to clean," Alec pressed. He pulled me away from him so he could look me in the eye. "I promise you will still be as angelic as you are now."

I could see the intelligence in his plan, but I was still reluctant to lose my hair. "I shall steal some scissors," Alec spoke to himself.

"Alec, you will be hung!" I cried, grabbing onto his shirt tightly. "Don't steal them; let us go home." He and I both knew that Mother owns a small pair of scissors.

He glaces out the alley worriedly. We had been chased in here hours ago. The townspeople were beginning to fear us, and had chased us out of town. Alec and I knew we would have to go home, and we could only hope our parents would be kind. Alec pushes me against the wall, "Don't move," he whisperers harshly.

Alec darts out to the end of the tight, low alley, glares out quickly, and dashes back to me. "Come now," he tells me, grabbing my hand. "They are gone."

He and I run through the shadows and the trees, and somehow manage to make it back to our little village. Our home is a small cottage by the outskirts of town, and making it back was easy. I was terrified the entire time.

Alec holds the door for me while I enter. Mother is knelling by the stove, her brown hair clinging to her sweaty forehead. I can hear father outside, and my big brother is sitting on the floor, staring at me.

"Jane, Alec," my mother stands. "Benito."

She looks worried, and beckons for Harold to stand. My big brother stands in front of my mother, hovering protectively. Alec pushes me against the wall and stands in front of me, just as Harold is standing. Father comes in, holding something behind his back.

"Why don't you two step outside?" Father suggests, pulling a pitchfork from behind him.

Alec gasps and I scream, and Alec grabs my hand and we run outside. We can't make it any further than out the door because the whole town seems to have gathered. They have menacing, evil expressions on their faces. Their eyes are determined and scared. Little children hold small torches, and adults were holding pitchforks and other dangerous things.

Benito sharply presses his into my back, and I hiss in pain.

The people began to scream at Alec and I, and I clung to my brother as I began to cry. I had never been one to cry, but I was faced with the whole town rioting against me. I knew they were going to kill Alec and I.

Before I could think any further Alec jumped a little girl, and her parents rushed to get him off her. I knew that Alec was trying to give me some time to run, but I could not abandon my brother. "Alec!" I scream, running toward him. I grabbed his arm, and helped him up.

The two of us began running, and Alec tells me I was bleeding from where my father had stabbed me. Quickly, people were gaining on us. The women and children had stopped running after us, and where now content to throw stones at us.

One man tugged at my hair, and I fell into his arms. Alec was so captured thereafter. We were gagged and blindfolded, and taken off. As I was dragged away from my brother, I could hear people scream various means of execution. Most seemed to think that I should go 'swimming', although I wasn't sure what they meant.

The man carrying me stopped walking, and sat me on the floor. I ripped the blindfold off, just in time to see the bald man raise a large rock…

* * *

When I woke, I discovered that I was in someones house. I was chained to the floor, which was littered with animal droppings and garbage. It was wet, and a icy wind blew through the window. I sat up as best as I could, and I vainly tried to ignore my pounding headache.

"Alec?" I cried out painfully. My throat was burning, and I needed to find a drink. My stomach growled, and blinked my eyes, trying to ignore the want to sleep. "Alec, are you here?"

Something banged against the wall, and moments later a large man was crouched over me. A smaller, younger man came behind him, holding a candle. "Look at her, John." He growled, his voice gravely. He roughly yanked my arm up, pointing to a small birthmark on elbow. "Mark of the Witch," he drawled.

"Don't ya think if she was a witch she'd have magically gotten her way outta here by now?" John stammered, looking fearfully at me.

I was terrified, although I refused to show it. I closed my eyes and concentrated very hard. My family had betrayed me, the village was trying to kill me, Lard was keeping me from my brother, and I was going to be unjustly killed. My anger built up, and I tried to send out something to them. It seemed to work, for John dropped his candle, and Lard began to scream. I sent the pain to Lard, and allowed John time to stomp out the fire.

Through shouts, and as he feel to his knees, Lard screamed for help. Moments later, the highest ranking men from my village had run in. One of them, the pyshian, was holding my brother. Alec was lank in his arms, and his face was bleeding. He appeared to have been beaten, and had had his hair cut so that it feel around his ears. He was wearing only a loose pair of black pants, and cruel messages had been carved into his chest. As he saw me, he smiled softly, "Jane." His voice was weak, and broken.

I'd never heard him speak like that before. He had always talked so calmly, like he was so sure of everything he was doing. I knew then of the danger I was in. "They are going to do this to you, too, little sister."

One man, dressed richly in blue silk, released me from my chains. I was not able to run to my brother as I hoped. Alec was tossed onto the ground cruelly, and tied in the same fashion as I was. The rich man dragged me outside, and sat my inside the courthouse.

It was empty of people but a young woman. I was brought to her, and had my hair cut so that it feel around my shoulders. The judge waltzed in a glared at me. "Would you like to confess to me your Satanic crimes now, or shall we do it slower?"

"I am not a witch," I allowed myself to say. The judge pulled the man in blue over to him, and they nodded together.

I was dragged back outside, and chained by my wrists to the floor. My dress was stripped off of me, and I was left naked. The men carried varoius items: rocks, wood, and simple fists. Just as Alec promised, they beat me. They held jagged, rusty knifes, and carved things onto me. I was beaten for hours, slowly, and sometimes allowed to lay on the floor, crying and bleeding. Stones had been placed upon my chest – I was sure a rib was broken – until the judge ordered them off.

Finally, as day was breaking, the woman came and unchained me. Men stayed close by, waiting for me to struggle. I wouldn't have, but even if I wanted to it would have been impossible. My arms were weak, pained, and my legs were unable to support me. The woman had two girls I knew hold me up while she put a simple black gown on me.

"You may as well, Witch, admit it to us," she told me darkly, pushing and hitting me as she dressed me. "Alec had already confessed."

Alec had always been somewhat of a rebel. He was never one to admit to anything – whether it was truth or not. Whatever thing they had done to him… I began to cry once more. I was not scared for myself, but I wanted to be there for my brother, and to help him with his injuries.

The man in blue once again held me. "We're skipping the trial," he told me. "All we want is the confession."

One of the girls who helped hold me, snickered, "Then we're going to kill you." She was my age, thirteen. I had never taken any liking to her, and that had been like an insult to her. Her family was one of the richer ones, and I then realized it was her father that was holding me.

I was led into th courthouse, where I found Alec. He was on his knees, and Lard was strangling him. I began to scream, and tried to fight my way out of my captors arms. I begged Lard to stop hurting Alec, but he didn't even acknowledge me. I was sat next to him, and Alec's hand found my own. The man in blue rapped his hands around my neck, and I squeezed my brothers hand.

* * *

My body was being dragging somewhere. I was semi-conscious, and gagged once more. I could not find the strengh to open my eyes or move my body. My neck was throbbing, and breathing was painful. I could not get proper air in through my nose, as it was dirty with snot and soil. I felt myself being fastened to something, as as I thought, I realized what was happening. I was being tied to the stake. I was to be burned.

It was then that I heard the excited cheering and shouting of the village. I recognized Harold's voice as he chants, "Burn the witch!" I hear not of my mother or father, but I struggle to hear of Alec. I did not know if he was safe, or had been burned, or killed by swimming.

Something wet fell on me, and the next thing I knew, I was on fire. The gag in my mouth prevented me from screaming, but I tried anyway. The flames licked at my body, melting away my flesh.

* * *

Six people emerged from the shadows. It had just hit mid-morning, and they did not wish for people to see them in the sunlight until now. The leader, Aro, floated along confidently. The others already knew what they were to do. Felix, Demetri, and Chelsea ran into the square, and began the massacre. They weren't particularly thirsty, but it didn't hurt.

Caius and Marcus were dousing the thirteen-year old twins with water, while Aro stood back patiently, waiting for them to finish. As soon as the children were no longer on fire, Aro drifted forward and grabbed hold of the girl.

The townspeople became quickly aware of something happening. They watched in horror as the two men and the woman _drank the blood _of their neighbors. Some ran screaming, blind to anything but themselves. They, too, were killed. Others, who would be killed last, watched in stunned horror as three men saved the teens. Everyone human in that village would die today.

Aro held Jane, smiling sweetly at her. Her skin was melting from her like candle wax, and he knew he did not have much time until she died from bloodloss. He'd watched her getting beaten hours before. He bit her, and drank more blood than he needed too. When the venom was pumping through Jane, and she was safely on the ground, he moved onto her brother.

Alec was in worse shape than his sister. Seconds more would have killed him, and he had been beaten far more savagely than his sister. Aro was genteler with him, and Alec was quickly on the ground next to his sister.

Caius and Marcus had gleefully gone off to join the slaughter, leaving Aro alone with the children. Aro watched in wonder as skin grew back on the twins, and was shocked to see them inch close to each other. Alec took Jane's hand, and she pressed her face against him. They had yet to show any signs of pain, and Aro knew the screaming would come later.

He joined his coven in the massacre, although by this point there wasn't much left.

* * *

As another liquid was poured on me, I stopped screaming. It was water, I assumed. The fire was gone, but the people were still screaming. People were screaming of demons in black robes and the end of the world, but nothing bad seemed to happen after the fire was extinguished. Cold hands untied me, and passed me into another pair of cold hands.

The man that held me seemed confident in his actions, as he bent down and started a new fire.

* * *

_Please understand that the beginning of the story takes place in Montepulciano, but the village where Jane and Alec lived is different. Also, Aro removes the wooden gags from their mouth' once the skin had fully grown back. I did a lot of research while I wrote this, because I knew nothing of witch hunts, so I hope I don't sound like a fool even after scouring Google. It does say Complete at the top of the page, so this is the only chapter. Also, if you think Jane and Alec are acting OOC, I ask you: would you not freak out if the crazy townspeople were set of killing you? One more thing: it says Alec can 'partially make people lose their senses and Jane can make people feel acute amounts of pain', but it strenghs to the mindnumbing powers they have as vampires._


End file.
